The rabbit kits are 2 weeks old now, and their eyes are open. What does that mean? Trouble.
Once they realize they can get out of the nest box, they go pretty much everywhere in the kindling cage. And they constantly harass the does, trying to crawl under them for a meal. Sometimes the mothers look like they’ve just gone to their “happy place”, ignoring the squirmy, hyper kits.
There’s no denying that the kits are incredibly cute at this age. They have fur now, and they check the world out with their bright eyes…eyes full of mischief. They’re deceptively fast, too – they can evade capture like you wouldn’t believe. Once captured, though, you have to cuddle them a little – we like for ours to be used to handling from an early age.
One little black kit from Avril’s litter was out this morning, so I grabbed it (gently) and brought it out. The kit was very calm and just settled down against my shirt. Even though kits are often calm while being held, they have sharp little claws and can jump really well, so vigilance is key: you have to be ready to prevent them from trying to jump out of your hands or they can suffer serious injury. This little guy just closed his eyes and seemed pretty comfortable, though.
So comfortable, I guess, that he decided to empty his bladder. The front of my shirt began to feel warm and wet as he let loose. Strangely, it smelled a lot like cat pee. I just shrugged my shoulders and put the little guy back in the nest box. It just comes with the territory: you get peed on, you get dirty pool water splashed on you, you touch chicken and duck poop. Try as you might, you can’t possibly prevent things like this from happening occasionally.
In any case, a plastic poncho may be in order for the next time I try to cuddle that little kit.